Rent-Seekers Race to Profit in War Torn Libya

Major businesses are gunning for first dibs on Libya’s natural resources as a new race to turn a profit out of the war-torn nation begins. Many business leaders, most with close connections to their respective governments, are planning to send representatives to Benghazi to meet leaders of the Transitional National Council (TNC).

International oil companies from Europe, America, Russia, China, and the Middle East, many with previous business ties in Libya, are preparing to resume exploration, drilling, and production as soon as it is safe and Gadhafi is out. Billions of dollars are being invested in Libyan oil fields, which are currently producing a 10th of the 1.6 million barrels a day that were exported pre-conflict.

There is also an intense lobbying effort for the multibillion-dollar reconstruction contracts that US and NATO governments are expected to issue once security is restored. “It is still too fluid a situation in Libya to be able to say exactly what we are doing,” one official at a company involved in reconstruction efforts in Iraq told The Independent. “If business goes back to Libya, we will undoubtedly follow.”

Expectedly, those governments involved in the air campaign and proxy war to oust Gadhafi have had a jump start in facilitating the corporatist industrial and reconstruction plans. France and Germany have already begun trade negotiations with the TNC, and Britain and America — which has spent nearly one billion dollars on the war — are sure to follow suit.

Of course, there is no need to worry about a repeat of the corruption and outright theft that characterized the "rebuilding" of Iraq. Why the incorruptible TNC must be a pillar of honesty and transparency.

The unfortunate reality is that Libya is in a state much like Iraq circa 2003. The lack of a functioning state will mean that Libyans will be powerless to do anything to prevent the robbery about to take place.

Why is it that every time I read a story about foreign companies rushing to any war-torn region with contracts in hand I recall the old but still very relevant film "The Dog of War"? Just one time- just ONCE- if a third-world nation is to be wracked with a coup I'd like to see an honest-to-goodness Good Guy step up to the plate and take charge and lead his country to recovery and prosperity. Instead, we get an endless train of petty dictators and money-hungry vampires doing their best to get rich quick and hopefully disappear before the next guy gets tired of waiting for his turn.